Before he was All Elite, Kenny Omega was “The Cleaner.”
In late 2014, Omega joined New Japan Pro Wrestling, aligning himself with one of professional wrestling’s most dominant factions — the Bullet Club. Throughout his tenure, Omega racked up an impressive collection of titles, starting with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, before leveling up to the company’s biggest prize.
Omega’s last appearance with the company came on January 4, 2019 at Wrestle Kingdom 13 where he lost his IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi in a grueling 39-minute match. Later that month, Kenny Omega’s contract with NJPW ended, and he moved on to his next venture in the development of a startup promotion.
The former champion soon makes his long-awaited return to NJPW for a special appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 17 against a familiar foe, Will Ospreay. There, Omega will also vie for the IWGP United States Championship. In anticipation of his return, Kenny Omega spoke with NJPW about his 4-year absence from the company he once called home.
“We always hear like ‘you’re the best in the world,’ ‘greatest matches of all time’. But maybe somebody else is the best in the world to somebody else. But to me, to truly the best, you have to be the best in all styles,” he said. “And to me, I’d never truly challenged North American professional wrestling. Not whole heartedly. I thought ‘for all the people that think I’m the best now, all the people that think I’m talented now, just you wait, because I’m going to kill it in America.'”
“I’m going to show everyone exactly why they call me the Best Bout Machine. Going to show you exactly why I was able to take small promotions and make them global. I’m going to take an upstart promotion that nobody knows existed, and turn it into the greatest competition to the greatest pro-wrestling promotion that anyone has seen in America for the past 50, 60, 70 years.'”
The King Want His Keys Back
The upstart promotion — famously known as All Elite Wrestling — quickly turned into a major competition for the dominant global enterprise, WWE. Since singing with AEW in February 2019, Omega took on the dual roles as an Executive Vice President and in-ring performer. In the ring, Omega soared into success, racking up singles, tag team, and trios’ gold in the span of three years.
“I think I’ve already made a big enough statement,” Omega said. Now, “The Cleaner” returns home for a special occasion, with some grand ideas.
“My return to the Tokyo Dome is supposed to be astronomical. This is supposed to be a celebration, a real homecoming. For all of you fans, wrestlers that have struggled for so long through this difficult time. And I understand that you guys have struggled with this for years now.”
“I know what you’re thinking- that I mean the struggle with the pandemic, no, no, no. The struggle that I’m talking about is the struggle that you guys have had to incur without me running the ship! Without Kenny Omega running the show, there’s been an absolute lack of charisma, an absolute lack of magic, an absolute lack of eyeballs watching the product. We need people watching, talking, discussing. We need New Japan parties again, guys!”
Accordingly, Omega vowed to be the “resolution” for fans “after years of hardship” they experienced without him in the promotion. At the January 4th event, Omega believes his win against Ospreay will give the people “something to really, really look forward to.”
“There’s a shift coming,” Omega declared, “and unfortunately for you Will, we’re shifting away from this experimental project that was Will Ospreay. And you gave it your best shot, congratulations. I don’t know what else you want from me, I’ll give you a pat on the back, a fruit basket, you did great. But it just wasn’t good enough, and it was nothing compared to the real deal. I’m sorry, Will, but you’re going to have to move on.”
“The king is coming back for the keys to the castle,” Omega said.
